Wednesday, August 31, 2011

The heir-apparent to Luciano Pavarotti's reign as Italy's top tenor seems to be Vittorio Grigolo. In an interview with Corriere della Sera for the September issue style section, he admits that his idol growing up was Fonzie from television's Happy Days. He admits that it was because he loved motorcycles and the television character was always getting the girls in an easy manner. Check out the full text below. You can also download the full article here.

Thanks to "proudpop53" on YouTube, the world was introduced to a fresh-faced high school soprano named Margaret Windler singing a popular Italian song. After being viewed over 35,000 times, it seems as though the soprano has grown up a bit and new videos have been posted of a recital that features the singer in much more mature repertoire. Get more information at her website by clicking here.

"Maggie’s singing career began on her own front porch at the tender age of four. Serenading the neighbors with show tunes from Rogers & Hammerstein was just the beginning. Six years with the St. Louis Cathedral Children’s Choir instilled a love for traditional choral music. Various roles in high school musicals and choral competitions convinced her that singing was to be her career. Maggie is currently majoring in vocal performance at Tulane University." [Source]

In the wake of his most recent accident and the health reports that have surfaced, fans from around the world have taken to social media for sending the tenor best wishes for a speedy recovery. Check out the page and post your message by clicking here.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

"Last year saw the rediscovery of a major figure whose remarkable story illustrated the secret history of gay life throughout the 20th Century. In Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade, author Justin Spring tells the thrilling tale of Sam Steward, a man who documented every one of his many sexual exploits in obsessive detail, providing a wealth of understanding to future generations looking to understand the pre-Stonewall era. Now the artifacts of Steward’s life have been collected and displayed in a brilliant, inspiring show at the Museum of Sex in New York City. Keep the Lights On‘s documentarian Onur Karoaglu asked Justin Spring to show him around the exhibition one morning a few weeks ago. Secret Historian, along with An Obscene Diary: The Visual World of Sam Steward is in bookstores now." [Source]

UPDATE ON THE CONDITION OF SALVATORE LICITRA AFTER ACCIDENT: The Garibaldi hospital has confirmed after respiratory monitoring and a CAT scan of the tenor's chest, there was a complication with his lungs and they had to drain fluid out of them. He is on a ventilator and remains in a coma. Reports are starting to come out that the tenor may have suffered a "brain hemorrhage" while driving his scooter and that is what forced him to lose control before the accident. [Source, Source]

"Jonas Kaufmann, a major international tenor who has become an increasingly important presence at the Metropolitan Opera, plans to go ahead with an Oct. 30 recital at the house just two months after undergoing chest surgery, the Met said on Monday. He also remains committed to a run as the title character in a new production of Gounod’s Faust, which opens on Nov. 29, and to appearances in the Ring cycle in the spring, the Met said. 'Jonas Kaufmann has assured the Met through his management that he plans to sing all of his scheduled performances here this season,' according to a company statement. Mr. Kaufmann said on his Web site that he needed to have an operation to remove a node from his chest. 'I do not wish anyone to become alarmed reading this, but my physicians have ordered me to have the surgery done as soon as possible, and it will take place after my appearance in Stockholm on Sept. 2,' he said. He is scheduled to sing in the Jussi Björling gala that day at the Royal Opera. Mr. Kaufmann’s Web site lists five other performances in October, starting on Oct. 10." [Source]

Monday, August 29, 2011

Listen to this incredible excerpt of "D'amor sull'ali rosee" taken from a performance during the run of Maria Callas's first time singing the role of Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovatore. The performance took place in Mexico City during June 1950 at the Palacio de Bellas Arte. To listen to the whole aria, including the "Miserere," click here.

Trivia: The performances of Il Trovatore occurred on June 20, 24 and 27. Madame Callas had sung the title roles in Aida on June 15, Tosca on June 10 and Norma on May 27. [Source]

Tenor Salvatore Licitra, 43, is still in critical condition at the Garibaldi hospital in Catania from injuries he received in a road accident near Modica in the Ragusa region of Sicily. He was traveling on a Vespa with his Chinese girlfriend, 29, on his way for a vacation and to collect the Ragusani nel Mondo prize (scheduled for September 3) when at 10:30 pm yesterday on the Miccichè street, in the hamlet of Donnalucata, his motorbike lost control and slammed into a wall. The opera tenor was not wearing a helmet and has sustained severe head, face and chest injuries. He was transferred by helicopter to the hospital for emergency surgery to relieve the mounting pressure on his skull. He remains in intensive care. Police reports show that the couple was traveling at a low speed of about 30 miles per hour when control was lost. No other vehicles were involved in the crash and speculation swirls that Mr. Licitra may have suffered a "sudden illness" that caused the incident. It seems as though his girlfriend, from Shanghai, was wearing a helmet (although some articles say the contrary) and she walked away from the incident with minor scrapes. [Source, Source]

Saturday, August 27, 2011

A LETTER TO THREE WIVES
"Lora May Hollingsway, who grew up next to the wrong side of the tracks, married her boss who thinks she is just a gold digger. Rita Phipps makes as much money writing radio scripts at night as her school teacher husband does. Deborah Bishop looked great in a Navy uniform in WWII but fears she'll never be dressed just right for the Country Club set. These three wives are boarding a boat filled with children going on a picnic when a messenger on a bicycle hands them a letter addressed to all three from Addie who has just left town with one of their husbands. They won't know which one until that night." [Source]

CAST:Jeanne Crain as Deborah BishopLinda Darnell as Lora Mae HollingswayAnn Sothern as Rita PhippsKirk Douglas as George PhippsPaul Douglas as Porter Hollingsway
Classical music used in the film includes Concerto No. 2 in B Flat Major, Op. 83 by Brahms and Wein, weib und Gesang, Op. 333 by Johann Strauß. Watch how a piano reduction of "Chi mi frena in tal momento?", which begins the sextet from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, creeps into the 1949 film from director Joseph L. Mankiewicz:

Enjoy a couple classic clips of the vocal version of the Lucia sextet after the jump.

An early portrait of Susan Dunn
from the cover of Opera News
magazine in July 1987.

Thanks to YouTube user Sutherland9 we are able to hear some extraordinary musical excerpts from a recital that Grammy Award-winning soprano Susan Dunn gave on September 24, 1982. The clips represented show quite an expanse of repertoire for the spinto most well-known for the music of Giuseppe Verdi. During her career she sang 14 complete operas of the Italian master, including Nabucco, I Masnadieri, I Vespri Siciliani, Giovanna d'Arco, Un Giorno di Regno, Attila and Macbeth. This recital is auspicious for the Arkansas-native because it is the same year she made her professional opera stage debut in the title role of Verdi's Aida at the Peoria Civic Opera in Illinois. Within a decade she was singing at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala and the Vienna State Opera. Although she scaled her career back significantly in the mid-1990s, she still performs frequently these days in addition to heading the vocal music program Opera Workshop at Duke University. She lives in North Carolina with her husband - conductor and composer - Scott Tilley. [Source]

"Dank sei Dir, Herr" (Händel)

"E Susanna non vien...Dove sono" Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart)

"Vissi d'arte" Tosca (Puccini)

"Pace, pace mio Dio" La Forza del Destino (Verdi)

"I know where I'm goin'" Irish folk song

"Johnny we hardly knew ye" Irish folk song

Be sure to check out the latest CD release from the soprano. Listen to clips by clicking here: "In the late 1970s, John Wustman came to Indiana University as a guest faculty member. He chose the Mörike-Lieder as the focus of his first semester. After several classes, I worked up the courage to sing 'Schlafendes Jesuskind' for him. His comment as I finished was that we could make a recording together. Thus began our relationship as mentor-accompanist and singer. As my career began and John and I appeared in concert together, I began to dream of recording the Mörike-Lieder with him. From that dream was born a concert presenting all fifty-three songs in two evenings at Duke University. Thomas Potter, my friend and a fellow student of Mr. Wustman, served as our baritone voice for the songs that required the masculine perspective. The Mörike-Lieder, composed in less than nine months of white-hot inspiration, provide the singer with an incredible array of color, character and vocal challenges. As the singer manages technical and interpretive complexities, the accompanist navigates an arduous path of pianistic virtuosity. At first I was drawn to the eight religiously themed songs, but I have come to embrace the naughty 'Erstes Liebeslied eines Madchens,' the gently humorous 'Rat einer Alten,' the tragic 'An Eine Aolsharfe,' and the moody 'Die Geister am Mummelsee.' Mörike poetry is by turns sensual, humorous, mournful, and eerie, but always evocative. Wolf, using a harmonic language akin to that of Wagner, but without the long- windedness, manages to capture the heart of each poem, often distilling the essence into a few measures a couple of intense pages. After years of studying the Mörike-Lieder together and separately, John, Thomas and I offer this recording. Our hope is that the listener will fall in love with them just as we have." [Source]

Maestro Chailly with the lirico-spinto circa 1990.

Read the June 1989 article in the New York Times about Susan Dunn by clicking here and another wonderful article about the singer's background here. Biographical information and more video clips are after the jump.

As record labels explore the cost effectiveness of the MP3 format, many are digging deep into their archives to find recorded material to re-issue from previous CD incarnations or in some cases for the first time since their original LP release. Click on the Amazon widget to hear MP3 audio samples.

Friday, August 26, 2011

"The Dutch lyric-dramatic soprano Gré Brouwenstijn (August 26, 1915–December 14, 1999) was a famous opera singer whose stage career spanned from the early 1940s to the mid-1970s. She was admired for her warm, radiant voice, her stage presence, her dramatic instincts, and her 'Ingrid Bergman' looks. Brouwenstijn was above all associated with the role of Leonore in Beethoven's Fidelio. Considered one of the finest Leonores of the post-World War II period, she performed the role to great acclaim at the Vienna State Opera, the Paris Opera, Stuttgart, Berlin, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, London, and Glyndebourne. Brouwenstijn was born Gerda Demphina in Den Helder. She studied voice at the Amsterdam Muzieklyceum, with Jaap Stroomenbergh, Boris Pelsky and Ruth Horna. She made

"Io vengo a domandar"Don Carlo (Verdi)
w/Jon Vickers

her operatic début in 1940 as the First Lady in The Magic Flute. Brouwenstijn then became a member of the Hilversum Radio Choir, later performing as a soloist in operatic broadcasts. In 1946, she joined the Netherlands Opera, where she made her debut as Julietta [sic] in Les contes d'Hoffmann. In 1949, Brouwenstijn made her debut at the Holland Festival as Leonore in Il Trovatore, the beginning of a long association with that event. In subsequent years, she sang Reiza, Jenůfa, Amelia, Donna Anna, Desdemona, the Countess, Tatyana, Leonore (Forza), Senta, Iphigénie (en Tauride), and Leonore (Fidelio) at the Festival. In 1951, Brouwenstijn made her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Aida (in English), conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. Her Berlin debut in 1954 caused 'something of a sensation;' the critic praised her 'phrasing in

"Nicht sehre dich Sorge"Die Walküre (Wagner)
w/Birgit Nilsson

Italian opera.' In 1955, under Rafael Kubelík, she sang Desdemona. In 1958, she sang Elisabetta in a famous production of Don Carlos designed by Luchino Visconti and conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini. In 1958 she sang Leonore at the Teatro Colón in a production of Fidelio conducted by Thomas Beecham. From 1954 to 1956, she appeared at Bayreuth, as Elisabeth, Freya, Sieglinde, Gutrune and Eva. Two Wagnerian roles she performed elsewhere, Senta and Elsa, she never performed there, however, due to a breach in 1957 with the Wagner family. In 1959, she made her American debut as Jenůfa at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She made her farewell appearance, singing Leonore, with the Netherlands Opera in 1971. Brouwenstijn died in 1999 at age 84 in Amsterdam." [Source]

Thursday, August 25, 2011

This evening, Turner Classic Movies aired the full-length refurbished version of Luchino Visconti's opulent 1963 film Il Gattopardo featuring Burt Lancaster (Don Fabrizio Corbera - Prince of Salina), Claudia Cardinale (Angelica Sedàra) and Alain Delon (Tancredi Falconeri). The film is based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's novel of the same name about the decline of the Sicilian aristocracy at the time of the "Risorgimento"when the aristocracy lost its grip and the middle classes rose and formed a unified, democratic Italy. Il Gattopardo translates directly from Italian as "The Serval," but the film was released in France as Le Guépard ("The Cheetah") and as The Leopard in the UK and USA. The work was awarded the Palme d'Or at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival. Leave it to Visconti who famously directed 19 opera productions (five with Maria Callas alone), to include some music of Verdi into his film. The film's score was composed by Nina Rota who managed to unearth Verdi's Valzer in fa maggiore, originally written "per cembalo" when the composer was in his youth, and orchestrate it for key sequences in the hour-long

ball scene. "The Valzer was discovered by Rota in the possession of a Roman antiquarian, and was orchestrated for strings, flutes, and piano for the film soundtrack. "The Valser begins on a shot of farmers working on a hillside and follows the cross-fade into a large ballroom. The guests are greeted at a reception line, people gossip, ladies fan themselves (the Sicilian night is very hot), Colonel Pallipacini and his officers are introduced to the notables. The music flows from the balconies into a garden where the Colonel, surrounded by admiring women hanging on his every word, speaks of Garibaldi as looking like an archangel: 'I wept like a little baby.'

Verdi's waltz cadences at the end of the Colonel's exaggerated speech, and another waltz with lovely romantic harmonies in the style of the period by Nino Rota, begin as the scene shifts back into the ballroom. This piece is followed by a wonderful folk-style mazurka in a minor key. Angelica asks the Prince to dance with her and back in the ballroom the Verdi waltz is struck up once again."

Two excerpts from Verdi's La Traviata appear in the film as well. Click on the highlighted link in the description below each photo to launch a video clip of each particular scene:

When Don Fabrizio and his family return to Donnafugata they are greeted by a brass band playing the women's chorus "Noi siamo zingarelle."

The family immediately enters a church in a processional while a young organist plays the "Preludio" from Act 1 (the theme appears again later in the opera as "Amami, Alfredo" sung by Violetta).

Visconti even manages to get a little bel canto Bellini in when a soldier sings "Vi ravviso, o luoghi ameni," Rodolfo's aria from the first act of La Sonnambula.

Yesterday, Louise Barder - Senior Publicist and Editorial Director at 21C Media Group - had a chance to meet Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer. She even managed to slip the topic of opera into their brief conversation. Who knows, he might enjoy the art form as much as fellow tennis professional Novak Djokovic:

"Louise Barder was born in England and grew up all over the world (including the Soviet Union, Australia, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Poland), living wherever her diplomat father's postings took her. Back in England, having graduated from the University of Exeter with a degree in Psychology, she worked as an editor on a variety of musical publications, including the Grove Concise Dictionary of Music and the Grove Dictionary of Opera, The Musical Times, Radio Times (the BBC's house magazine), The Strad magazine, and the music books at Oxford University Press (in both its Oxford and New York offices). Louise founded Romophone, the Gramophone Award-winning vocal reissues label that set a new benchmark for other labels and subsidiary labels specializing in historical vocal recordings. As well as being an executive producer for Romophone's CDs, Louise quickly established worldwide distribution and a high-profile international reputation for the label, which boasted a feature profile in The New York Times, broadcast features on the BBC, and superlative coverage in the press and broadcast media throughout the world. Louise continued to run the company and oversee its production, sales and promotion until it ceased trading in 2004. Before joining 21C Media Group, Louise worked with Albert Imperato and Glenn Petry in the marketing and press department of Universal Classics." [Source]

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

"It was as recently as 2002 that Jennifer Wilson made her professional debut as Turandot with the Connecticut Opera but she has in the short intervening period already successfully established herself as one of the world’s leading dramatic sopranos. Following on the heels of her Connecticut success, Jennifer Wilson went on to debut with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Helmwige/Die Walküre and make her first European appearance in the leading soprano role in Schulhoff's Die Flammen at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw conducted by Edo de Waart. In the 2003/2004 season, Jennifer made a short-notice debut at Houston’s Grand Opera, again as Turandot, which led The Houston Chronicle to declare her "A star in the making." In the 2005/2006 season at the Paris Chatelet, she made her European operatic debut in Bob Wilson’s production of Die Walküre, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. In addition to further successful productions of Turandot for the Santa Fe Opera, Opera

"In questa reggia"Turandot (Puccini)

Australia and at the Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Greece, Jennifer Wilson enjoyed a huge personal success with her first Brünnhilde/Die Götterdämmerung at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, also performing Helmwige, Gutrune and the Third Norn in their 2005 Ring Cycles. A house and role debut as Senta at the artist’s home house – Washington National Opera – followed, and last season saw successful further house debuts at Covent Garden (Turandot with Nicola Luisotti) and at Hamburg’s State Opera (Die Walküre with Simone Young). In the 2006/2007 season, Jennifer Wilson began a multi-season collaboration with Zubin Mehta, the Palau de les Arts, Valencia and the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence as she embarked on new productions of Die Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung which culminated last season with her highly-acclaimed first complete Ring Cycle performances. “She sings with great sensitivity and tenderness. Wagner would have loved her." Also a versatile concert artist, Jennifer Wilson's extensive repertoire includes R Strauss’ Four Last Songs, Beethoven's Symphony No 9 and Verdi’s Requiem alongside less frequently performed works by composers such as Durufle', Haydn, Saint-Saëns and Vaughan-Williams. Last season saw her debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra/Kent Nagano firstly as Elisabeth in concert performances of Wagner’s Tannhäuser, returning for performances of Mahler’s Symphony No 8. A native of Fairfax, Virginia, Jennifer Wilson is the recipient of a major grant from the Olga Forrai

Scenes from the Valencia production ofDer Ring des Nibelungen (Wagner).

Foundation, as well as the 2003 Robert Lauch Memorial Grant from the Wagner Society of New York and the Liederkranz Foundation's Ethel Bleakley Daniels Award for Wagnerian Voices. She is the recipient of the Evelyn Lear and Thomas Stewart Emerging Singers Career Grant from the Wagner Society of Washington, with whom she has sung a number of concerts including major scenes from Lohengrin and the final scene from Siegfried. The current season includes Jennifer’s debut as Aida for Opera Australia, a role which she will repeat at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts under Lorin Maazel, Gutrune in the Los Angeles Opera’s new Ring Cycle with James Conlon, as well as concerts in New Orleans, Montreal and Tel Aviv. Future projects include Isolde with the Leipzig Opera and at the Hong Kong Festival, as well as debuts at the opera houses in Berlin, Munich, Vienna and Tokyo." [Source]

Read two wonderful interviews with the soprano here and here. Watch excerpts from Der Fliegende Holländer (Wagner) at Washington National Opera after the jump.

"Earthquake rattles the East coast: The 5.8 magnitude quake was felt from Massachusetts to South Carolina" read the headline today. Opera baritone David Krohn was traveling through Union Station in Washington, D.C., when everyone was evacuated from the train landmark as the earth quake hit. He was stopped for a short interview by David Muir of ABC News. Watch the clip by clicking here (he appears at about 1:30).

Countertenor David Daniels has arrived in San Francisco, California, where he will be singing for a private dinner, prepared by Chef Scott Peacock, at the house of Alice Waters to honor the 40th Anniversary of Chez Panisse. [Source]

Chef Peacock

"Chez Panisse‘s 40th birthday extravaganza will take place on the weekend of August 26. With the goal of raising funds and awareness for the Edible Schoolyard program, now in its 15th year, Alice Waters and friends are holding a bunch of events throughout the weekend. Nearly all are open to the public. Some are free, some are not. The full schedule is online, and the Cliff’s Notes version was shared in the print edition, with two big highlights being the Smithsonian’s unveiling of Waters’ portrait for the National Portrait Gallery (a.k.a. recognition as a national treasure!) on Friday, August 26,

Alice Waters
(Photo: Russell Yip)

and OPENeducation at the Berkeley Art Museum on Saturday, August 27. Tickets for the portrait unveiling are $100; OPENrestaurant‘s edible installation is free but you can reserve a space here. Below, check out the preliminary list of Chez Panisse alumni dinners, which will take place in various private homes throughout the Bay Area on the evening of August 27. Tickets for the dinners vary in price ($500 – $2,000 per person), and are available by calling Krissa Nichols at (510) 843-3811. Funds go to the Edible Schoolyard, remember." [Source]

For more information about the event, visit the official website here. The full dinner list is after the jump.